The present invention relates to a camera adapted for underwater as well as above water use, and which, in a preferred embodiment, is of a size such that it can be carried in the user's shirt pocket.
Cameras adapted for underwater use heretofore have taken various forms. Generally speaking, such cameras comprise a waterproof housing in which a conventional camera is rigidly secured. Exemplary of cameras of this type are those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,573,885, 2,944,474, and 3,412,661. In the case of the first two of the above-mentioned patents, the outer, waterproof housing for the camera is formed from an opaque material. In at least one of the walls of the outer housing, an opening is provided therethrough for receiving a separate relatively large window-forming member made of glass or other transparent material through which picture-forming light rays are admitted to the objective lens of the conventional camera secured inside of the outer housing. Sealing means must be employed to provide a water-tight seal between the window-forming member and the opening in the housing in which it is positioned. In the case of the underwater camera shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,412,661, the entire outer housing is formed from a transparent material. One wall of the housing acts as a window for admitting picture-forming light rays to the objective lens of the conventional camera encased in the housing. Underwater cameras exemplified by those shown in the aforementioned patents, apart from their bulk and concomitant cumbersomeness, also have the important disadvantage of requiring the user to remove not only one wall of the outer, waterproof housing to reach the conventional camera secured on the inside of the outer housing, but also, require the user to open the housing of the conventional camera encased in the outer housing before film can be removed from, or reloaded in, the camera.
A variation of the cameras disclosed in the aforementioned three U.S. patents is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,162,106. The camera of that patent differs from the cameras disclosed in the three previously discussed patents in that the outer, waterproof housing, in which a conventional camera is secured, is eliminated. Instead, the camera of U.S. Pat. No. 3,162,106 comprises a one-piece housing having an opening through the front wall thereof for receiving a separate objective lens. The inner end of the objective lens is adapted to engage an opening provided in a support member for the camera mechanism. The camera of U.S. Pat. No. 3,162,106 has the significant disadvantage of requiring the user to remove both the objective lens and the entire camera mechanism from the housing before film can be removed from, or reloaded in, the camera. This requirement, of course, not only makes the camera inconvenient to use, but, also, requires the utmost care on the part of the user to assure that the separate objective lens is engaged in watertight relationship with the camera housing.